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Actor Russell Johnson, best known for playing “The Professor” in Gilligan’s Island, died today of kidney failure. He was 89.

“He died at home, peaceful, in his sleep at 5:21 a.m. today,” his wife Constance told ABC News. “[He was] a very brave guy who knew what he wanted, and he wanted to be at home.”

Johnson was the last surviving male cast member of the Gilligan’s Island cast. His character, Professor Roy Hinkley (“The Professor”) was a brilliant, quirky inventor who could create elaborate contraptions out of almost anything, and he often served as a level-headed mediator when conflicts broke out on the island.

“We are deeply saddened to have learned of the passing of Russell Johnson, the beloved “Professor,” Larry W. Jones, president of TV Land, said in a statement. “We extend our deepest condolences to his family. ‘Gilligan’s Island’ is one of the most iconic television series in pop culture history. The news about Russell makes its return to TV Land on Monday all the more meaningful.”

Before he rose to fame on the hit CBS sitcom, Johnson served as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, and flew 44 combat missions as a bombardier. In 1945, his plane was shot down in the Philippines during a low-level attack on Japanese targets. Johnson broke both his ankles during the attack and was awarded a Purple Heart for the mission, as well as a host of other military decorations.

After the war, he used the GI Bill to pay his way through acting school. He appeared in a few films throughout the 1950s, primarily Westerns and sci-fi films such as1953’s It Came from Outer Space and 1955’s Attack of the Crab Monsters.

He also made guest appearances in various TV shows throughout the 1950s and ‘60s, including The Adventures of Superman, the NBC Western Riverboat, and the ABC medical drama Breaking Point. He also had a recurring role in the Western Black Saddle and appeared in two episodes of The Twilight Zone.

But his most beloved role, of course, was in Gilligan’s Island, which Johnson said years later was successful because of its charming innocence.

“They didn’t want anything going on in the show that had anything to do with sex, in the cast,” he said in a 2004 interview for the Archive of American Television. “They kept [The Professor] a guy who didn’t really know what was going on. They brought Zsa Zsa Gabor in once for the show, and she makes a play for The Professor. She was all over him. And he’s talking about [butterflies] and flora and fauna.”

Johnson is survived by his wife, Constance Dane, his stepson Courtney Dane, and a daughter, Kim, from a previous marriage. His son David died in 1994.